How To Clean Or Wash Your Cloth Surface Mousepad

When it comes to PC peripherals and accessories, everyone from the average consumer to the professional gamer is spoilt for choice. In the the world of mousepads, however, the one product that is often labeled the best option for most users is SteelSeries’ QcK series, and for good reason. In addition to having struck an excellent balance between speed and accuracy, the “nearly frictionless” surface of the Danish manufacturer’s premier mousepad line is much more resilient that it would seem at first blush.

With a little care, a QcK mousepad could last you years. It is, like all other cloth mousepads, likely to start looking wartorn after a year of use, however. The fine fibers that line the surface trap dust along with the oils from your palms over time to create a stubborn coating of dirt. It’s unavoidable, but as we found out, easily fixable, and in what follows, we are going to walk you through exactly how to clean it all off without damaging your favorite mousepad. We’ve only tested this cleaning method with the SteelSeries QcK, but it should work with any cloth surface mousepads, such as the Corsair Gaming MM200, Roccat Taito Control, Logitech G440, or Razer Goliathus.

3. Gently rub the shampoo or soap into the cloth with a microfiber cloth, soft cleaning brush, or small towel. Spread the soap over the entirety of the mousepad while trying to avoid applying too much pressure around the edges, as that could lead to fraying. Add more soap if needed.

4. Lightly soak the towel or brush in warm water and give the mousepad another rub-down. You should begin to see the dirt clear away.

5. Once all the dirt and gunk has been done away with, hold your mousepad over a sink/drain, heavily soak a cleaning cloth and gently run it across the surface to wash away the soap and any remaining dirt. You may also run warm water directly over the surface of the mousepad for a similar result.

Note: Though quite a few guides posted to forums and social media suggest the same, we wouldn’t recommend dipping the entire mousepad directly into warm water, as soaking it in that manner may lead to uneven or frayed edges when it eventually dries.

6. Spread a towel out over a flat surface, place the mousepad over one half of the towel and use the other half to cover the mousepad. Gently dab the surface of the mousepad through the towel, then leave it inside (preferably a drier portion of) the towel for at least an hour.

7. Take the mousepad out of the towel, then hang it out, leave it under a fan, or near a window until it dries completely.

Be sure not to fold the mousepad or spread it out unevenly while it is still moist to the touch as that could lead to it developing bumps after it dries out. If that does happen, rinse the surface with warm water once more, sandwich the mousepad in a towel and place it on a flat surface with a small weight on top that covers either the entirety of the mousepad or just the uneven portion.

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I'm an engineer, blogger, and graphic designer who loves creating and experimenting with different forms of online content when he's not looking for a mix of inspiration and escape in PC gaming, comic books and anime. You can find me on Twitter and Google+.